It’s been way too long folks, way too long. But your favorite self absorbed snob of an author is back to bring you the trials and tribulations of yet another Jay Porks Experience. Life kicks your ass sometimes, and at times it can keep you away from awesome shows for a four month span. But today that all ends as the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival hits PNC Bank Arts Center (one of my personal favorite venues) with Alice In Chains, Jane’s Addiction and Coheed and Cambria slotting one, two and three in our headlining spots. Other acts high on the list to check out, Duff McKagen’s Walking Papers and Middle Class Rut, a band that killed opening for the Meat Puppets at the Track 16 Gallery closing in Santa Monica not too long ago. So with tailgating permitted for today’s festivities, we headed out to Holmdel out in Dirty Jerz.

Interesting sidebar, the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival’s website has set times listed, and the set times included different stages. One might find this puzzling, because PNC Bank Arts Center has only one stage, and is not built in a way where other stages could be added. Wonder what their move here is, are we going to be walking through the parking lot and find a cheap, makeshift stage built outside the venue or something? Well, it didn’t matter because in the typical style that is this guy we didn’t roll into the parking lot until a little after 4PM, a parking lot that I thought would be a lot more packed out with cars than it was. We cracked the brews, along with the whiskey and cantaloupe and began the party that would be the rest of the day/evening. Note to the guy selling the bootleg tee shirts in the parking lot before the show: I really got you down from $20 to $5 BEFORE the show?? What kind of business man are you? Maybe I should grab one after the show from you for $1.50 or something. Idiot.

The plan was to get inside for Coheed and Cambria and take it from there. We’ve turned this “festival” into like a regular night at PNC with Coheed, Jane’s Addiction and Alice In Chains. I was with friends and got a ride and stuff, so I didn’t have to do my usual “show up 5 hours early to a show’ thing. As we were walking in Coheed was in the midst of their set, so I had to quickly dart to the seats (I bought one additional ticket down in the seated area for video/picture purposes. Why take chances on the lawn?) to record a song or two of theirs. This writer and Claudio have two things in common. One being the overly fluffed out hair and the other is being around bitchin’ music, and bitchin’ music is what Coheed and Cambria are all about. This is my first time seeing them live, coming in I honestly couldn’t name one of their songs. Gravity’s Union was the song I got to record most of and see up close. Taking it all in, with the wicked licks the drummer is shelling out and the shredding going on out in front of him, it’s safe to say this is a band I’m going to have to see again. Even if I was in a seat the entire time, a nine song set at a festival that’s not even really a festival while the sun is still up is a tough way to judge a band you’ve never seen. But I digged those guys for sure.

While I head back to the lawn and we’re groovin’ to Coheed and taking pictures (because the guy writing this lost 92 pounds over the last 14 months), we see a sea of empty seats and start game planning how we’re sneaking down. Not enough time to do it for Jane’s Addiction, because the lights have dimmed for them already, and here they come circa 8:20 kicking things off with a thundering “Underground”. I don’t know what it is but the darker it gets at this place the better it always seems to sound. During our drunken parking lot adventures earlier I kept saying “It’s all fun and games til we’re ‘COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN’!!”. Love that freaking song, and guess what came second.. you got it: MountainSong. And during this I look over to enjoy the fatal riffs of one Dave Navarro. I follow him on Twitter, and I know he’s on some Tattoo show and hosts a radio show and stuff. Sideline reporting at the Adult Video Awards and all that, I almost forgot how awesome this guy was at his day job. JustBecause followed, and later on the crowd pleasing BeenCaughtStealing made an appearance before OceanSize and Stop. In typical Jane’s Addiction fashion, there was almost naked models dancing along the stage at some point. Also, to keep things light hearted and cheery, Perry says at one point (anyone please correct me if I’m wrong) “My mom is buried in New Jersey”. Interesting factoid I guess.

Set closer, of course, JaneSays, which is being played in steady rotation at the restaurant I work because I control the tunes nowadays. Jane’s never disappoints, second time I’ve seen them all the way from the lawn and the second time I’ve enjoyed myself. Sometimes people like me get lost in the “trying to remember stuff to write about” aspect of a concert… it was good to find a happy medium tonight between that and having fun.

Before Alice In Chains, we need to get down to those seats while folks are fitting in bathroom breaks. So we spot some stairs where they let you exit the seated section, but you can’t enter. There’s two sides. These assholes actually are standing on the same side just shooting the breeze. I turned around to check if Pam was still with me, and she wasn’t. Text came in that she’s in. Okay, now only my other pals Nay and Meggo left to sneak in. So I pull out my ticket and show it to these two idiots working here. I ask if they can let me in through this entrance and 15 feet to my right I’m like waving my arms for them to skate through the fence. And they did. Now to find Pam, the boldest of bold. She’s not only sneaking down, she made sure to walk down to the front row of this section. Fuck yeah. Now we’re high fiving and stuff and gloating when the lights turn off.. it’s Alice In Chains time 3 seconds after we acquire the new digs.

The Hollow they opened up with hit me with so much more power tonight than I expected. As soon as they started banging the opening chords it was clear we were in for a memorable set. Them Bones followed by DamThatRiver and Again. I thought I was recording Again but I looked at the screen and saw no numbers moving on the ticker.

Damn. This no longer is a festival that isn’t really a festival, now this is Alice In Chains demolishing PNC Bank Arts Center and making everyone in the building forget about every other band that played here today.

Check My Brain followed, and by this time we’re packed down here in the seats, as compared to the absence of people down there earlier in the day. This feels like a packed house and not a show they’ve been trying to give tickets away to for 3 weeks. “Tears to fill my bong”, how cool is that lyric? Man In The Box up next. I look over at the rhythm section and recall that one time I scalped fake tickets to an Alice In Chains show and couldn’t get in, and Mike Inez and Sean Kinney signed my fake ticket after the show and expressed remorse for my predicament. These are not only guys that rock, but nice guys that rock. Everyone screaming the lyrics to Man In The Box, what a scene.

Tonight we got ourselves a GotMeWrong. I saw video of them playing it on this tour and hoped we’d get the same treatment. Unbelievable. This set is amazing, it’s as if I made my own Alice In Chains mixtape or something! Well, almost. We haven’t heard Junkhead, and that’s probably my favorite song of theirs for several reasons.

Next up, Junkhead. Seriously?? Get the hell out of my head Mr. Cantrell, stop reading my thoughts.

You may or may not here me screaming the “Well what have you got” lyric on the video. Mike Inez’s bass work on this song is so crude and punishing, Jerry’s making his 6 string his absolute bitch over there. I don’t think he used the same guitar twice tonight.

Stone followed, to give us a taste of at least one other newer track before we broke into Grind followed by Nutshell (one of Pam’s favorites). Everyone stood for that one. Would and a harrowing Rooster would end the evenings festivities. Great times at the PNC Bank Arts Center stop of the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival, let’s do this again sometime.

Hey Jerry, why’d you have to go and cut the hair for? The brotherhood of long locked folks shrinks by the day. Sad to see you leave, you’re welcomed back anytime.

Rockstar Energy Drink has announced the lineup and dates to the 2013 Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival. Headlining spots go to Alice In Chains, Jane’s Addiction and Coheed and Cambria. Middle Class Rut and Walking Papers also make appearances along with others. Check out all the cool venues this tour will be hitting below, and also do not forget to hit the festivals official website for more information. Oh yeah, and customary with festivals these days, there’s a little lineup announcement video that goes along with it.

Feels like there hasn’t been a good act on television in a so long. To solve this issue, Coheed And Cambria stopped by Conan last night to play a track called “Dark Side Of Me”. Claudio going all intellectual on us with the specs, you can check out the video below courtesy of the people at Team Coco.

Who doesn’t love themselves some Coheed and Cambria? Well good, cause they have the second half of their double album to release, The Afterman, then they’re gonna come to your town. How do we know they’re coming to your town? Because they’re going to TONS of towns beginning in at the end of this month. They’ll do five shows in 2012, then in February kick off a relentless U.S. Tour taking them well into March and across the country ending in their hometown New York City, at Radio City Musical Hall March 16th. For the new tour dates, see below:

The support will be The Deer Hunter on some dates with Between The Buried and Me and Russian Circles opening up on other dates. Check your local listings for more information

I would be lying if I said I didn’t throw a mini temper tantrum when I was shut out of the Coheed and Cambria Troubadour on-sale because TicketFly assumed I was a scalper. It was after all only one of my all-time favorite bands playing in the best club in Southern California. Yet as it turns out the universe was on my side. I decided to check out the Troubadour website around 4pm on the day of the show and as luck would have it a few tickets were released. Instead of heading home from work on a Thursday night to watch the idiot box I was flying over Barham (okay crawling) from Burbank to Hollywood for a night with Coheed at the Troubadour.

The night kicked off with a thirty minute opening set from Aeges. In my expert opinion there are three types of opening acts you can encounter. Bands who can’t get off stage fast enough, bands that fill the role perfectly and then bands you wish could have played another 15 minutes. For Aeges it was the last type. Holy smokes how have these guys not popped up on my radar before this particular Thursday night in West Hollywood? For 30 minutes Aeges mixed deep stoner metal grooves with sci-fi sensibilities. Most of the material from their set came off the recently released album The Bridge (which I only know because the drummer told me this after I bought the album from him after the show). I can’t stress this enough, if Aeges hits your town check them out because they are one of the best rock bands I have seen in a long time.

With the tiny club now as packed as I can recall seeing it, Coheed and Cambria hit the stage around 9:30 pm. The band opened with a 1-2 punch from the 2007 album Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume II: No World For Tomorrow. After opening with the song No World For Tomorrow the four piece moved right into the raucous Gravemaker & Gunslingers. From there fans went crazy as the group went all the way back to the start with Everything Evil, the only song from the band’s debut album Second Stage Turbine Blade to make it into the set.

On this particular night a rare thing happened. Where most shows you attend fans have zero desire to hear new material, this was not the case inside the Troubadour. Fans were screaming for the band to play new songs and Coheed was happy to feed those requests. In fact those lucky enough to make it into the pint size club witnessed the band perform some songs for the first time. One of those songs was Key Entity Extraction III: Holly Wood The Cracked. Sure the upstate New York band may have put a space in Hollywood, but everyone inside the room knew there was no better place for this dark creepy number to make its live debut.

For the rest of the evening, the band mixed classic Coheed with material from the soon to be released double album The Afterman. You could see the band was clearly having fun as they played songs like Blood Red Summer, A Favor House Atlantic and a relaxed take on Mother Superior. With this being my 10th Coheed show, I enjoyed small tweaks the band made in the music. The way the band has added a pause in In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 so fans can scream MAN YOUR OWN JACKHAMMER – MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS is nothing short of brilliant.

Here was something that boggled my mind. Granted we were packed in like sardines, when was the last time you hit a show and a pit finally broke out during a new song? That’s exactly what happened on this particular night as the crowd finally erupted during Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant. Another interesting occurrence was the moment when fans chanted for the first single from The Afterman Ascension. Front man Claudio Sanchez couldn’t help but laugh as he assured fans that Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute would be played later before launching into another song making its live debut, Goodnight, Fair Lady.

After playing for well over an hour the band wrapped the night with a lengthy four song encore. Crowd surfers started to find their way onto the stage as the band played a smoking version of Welcome Home. Armed with a double neck guitar, Sanchez even allowed fans packed up front to strum the stings during one of the songs solos. The band finally brought the night to a close with the lengthy jam heavy The Willing Well V: The Final Cut. I moved towards the back of the room and just took it all in for a moment. From being shut out to seeing Coheed live at the Troubadour I am truly grateful that the universe had my back and allowed me to make it in.

This actually sounds really cool. It is called the Riot Fest and it is going down September 14-16 in Chicago. While the lineup tends to be rather heavy, one can’t notice such diverse acts as The Jesus and Mary Chain and Elvis Costello. The event will take place at Humboldt Park and the Congress Theatre. The best part is that tickets start at $18 a day. Below is the full line up (as of 05/14/12) and ticket are available by clicking here.

Riot Fest 2012 Line Up:

Rise Against, Iggy and the Stooges, The Offspring, Elvis Costello, A Day To Remember, Coheed and Cambria, Descendents, Gogol Bordello, Dropkick Murphy’s , NOFX, Alkaline Trio, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Gaslight Anthem, AWOLNATION, Slapstick, The Promise Ring, Chiodos, GWAR, August Burn Reds, Less Than Jake, Built To Spill, Frank Turner, Reverend Horton Heat, Fishbone, No Bunny, A Wilhelm Scream, Screaming Females, Teenage Bottlerocket, Off With Their Heads, Sister Crayon, Deals Gone Bad, White Mystery, Larry and His Flask, The Story So Far, Japanther

Update #1 – GWAR posted this map on Facebook so we figured we would add it.

We here at Concert Confessions have been fans of Coheed and Cambriafor years, yet this one caught us a bit off guard. With the band hitting the road for a spring tour that mainly focuses on the southern section of the United States the group has added an interesting cover to the mix. That’s right, Coheed and Cambria have covered the crossover mega smash superjam of 2012 – Someone That I Used To Know by Gotye. You can watch the fan film footage of the performance from the groups’ tour kick off at the Jefferson Theatre in Charlottesville, VA down below. Oh and for the record, as the “new guy” we agree with Claudio that Zach Cooper should have sang Kimba’s part.

To check out where you may potentially get to see Coheed and Cambria cover this song, click here.

Inaugural River’s Edge Music Festival Set To Rock St. Paul This Summer

Another day, another festival. This one is in Minnesota where we hear they have lots of mosquitoes. Personally we prefer mojitos but hey sometimes you need to sacrifice a lil blood to enjoy the likes of Dave Matthews Band and Tool.

Also appearing at the two day River’s Edge Music Festival on Harriet Island in scenic Saint Paul Minnesota over the weekend of June 23rd and 24th will be The Flaming Lips, Puscifer, Coheed and Cambria, Brand New, Delta Spirit, Mutemath, Dilpo, Polica, Gardens & Villa, Scissor Sisters, Kinky, Civil Twilight, Mexican Institute of Sound, Motion City Soundtrack, Kids These Days, K-flay, An Horse, and Yuna.

It is our understanding that two day passes will set you back $99 and will go on sale via Live Nation on April 10th.

The lineup for the 2012 Reading and Leeds Festivals have been announced and as always they are mighty impressive. Headliners include Kasabian, Foo Fighters and The Cure. Other notable acts include At The Drive-In, Paramore and The Black Keys. As of press time, the website for Leeds Festival has crashed from all the heavy traffic, but you can check out the lineup for the Reading Festival below.

We have already told you about Coheed and Cambria rocking Beale Street, The Hangout Festival and supporting the mighty men known as Iron Maiden. We have seen them everywhere from Kansas City to Korea Town. Now we share with you all of their tour dates through August 18th, 2012 as the band has just announced a Pre-Maiden club tour that will hit various markets in the south and Midwest. Support will come from Moving Mountains and Pianos Become The Teeth with tickets going on sale later this week. Check below for all the dates and on sale info.

COHEED AND CAMBRIA FULL TOUR DATES:

WithMoving Mountains, Pianos Become The TeethGeneral on sale March 2nd* and March 3rd** 10AM local time.

Every year, something glorious happens on the legendary Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. That glorious happening is Beale Street music festival, an affordable way to spend the first weekend of May. Like heavy metal? Like alternative rock? Like pop music? Like rap? Like country? Almost every existing genre of music is represented at Beale St., thus making it that much more appealing to a music fan.

Finally some tour news we are excited about. Iron Maiden has just announced details for their North American Summer Tour. Dubbed the “Maiden England” tour, the band plans to recreate their 1988 Seventh Son of a Seventh Son concert film.

When asked about the trek (which kicks off June 21st in Charlotte, NC) Iron Maiden front man (and commercial pilot) Bruce Dickinson had the following to say:

“Our intention is to play about two thirds of the original track list of ‘Maiden England’, including some songs we have not played live in a very,very long time, plus other favourites we just know the fans are going to want to hear! We always try to give our fans a great show musically, but we have always tried to make it as entertaining and memorable an experience as we can visually. And we all feel this show is going to do that splendidly!”

Tickets for the tour go on sale in early March. Alice Cooper will be opening for all dates until July 19. Coheed and Cambria will be opening for dates after July 19.

2011 was a year of many ups and downs and a lot of very unique and diverse shows of which I feel lucky and blessed to partaked in. And hey, nobody died this year. So moving on to number 10.

Number 10: Prof, 08/17/11 The Pageant, Saint Louis, Mo

Prof had impressed me quite a bit the early part of 2011 with a strong performance and a free cd that didn’t suck. A few months later he was back opening for Atmosphere, Evidence, and Blueprint respectively. Prof really put a lot into his short time and stole the show for me.

Number 9: 8ball and MJG, 04/29/11, Memphis In May Festival, Memphis, TN.

What can I say, I have always loved southern rap. Anyone who knows anything about rap knows that 8ball and MJG are LEGENDS! I had never had the chance to see either of them seperate, let alone together. When they were announced at Memphis in May, they by far were the most exciting addition to the lineup for me.

Many rap acts are a let down, I had no clue of what to expect from the southern legends. Well my friends and I were treated to a great set. From ” Coming Out Hard ” to ” You Don’t Want Drama “…

They had a great live set up, great audio and great crowd interaction. Featuring a live band and 3 back up singers. I wasn’t even pissed when they didn’t play my favorite song.

Then 8ball came back out, and said he grew up 10 minutes from the venue in Orange Mound, a infamous neighborhood in Memphis. He told the crowd if he can make it from there, you can make it out of anywhere. Then they played a awesome version of my favorite song ” Paid Dues” A fitting end to a truely classic rap show.

Number 8: DMX, Club Amnesia, 11/23/11, St. Louis, MO

I like a lot of rap and what can I say I go to a lot of shows. Here is another rap show in the Top 10 this year. DMX is one of those artist that seems like a performer first and recording artist second.

It has been trying couple of years for the mutli-platinum rapper. Stints in and out of Jail for multiple violations and various appearences on TMZ leading up to the show.

However when the beat hits and DMX takes the stage, he becomes another person. It is just him, the music and the crowd. Which is why I pay to go see shows. The highlight of the show was the set closing ” Slippin’ “.

Catch DMX given the chance, he will not let you down.

Number 7: Foo Fighters, 09/17/11 Savvis Center, Saint Louis, MO After catching the Foo Fighters back in 08 for the first time. My long 3 year wait to see them again finally came. As they ventured back to St. Louis a day after protesting the protesters in Kansas City, MO.

I had actaully fallen asleep during the show which sucked but, had nothing to do with the show which was great. I had been running around for 48 straight hours and it caught up. I woke up a few songs before the encore. It was sligthly wierd.

After promising a monster encore, and denouncing other arena rockers who put on less than stellar shows. They delivered and kept the hits coming and even threw in a few covers to mix it up.

They rocked the arena for around 2 hours and fifty minutes and left the packed crowd wanting more even after numerous encores.

Yelawolf was another artist I had been eager to see for years and finally got the chance to. After gaining underground fame, thanks to several well recieved mixtapes. Yelawolf finally hit it big, signing to Eminem’s label Shady Records in the spring prior to Warped Tour.

Just as his label founder Eminem did in 2000, Yelawolf hit the dusty Warped Tour Trail. I was crazy excited to see of the handful of Warped Dates he was on, St. Louis was one of them.

He had a great set time of 1 p.m and I made sure to have a great spot. He came out to his underground hit ” Trunk Music “. He was so much more pontent and raw live.

During one song a security guard grabbed a kid’s pipe as he was smoking in plain view of him. Well Yelawolf, went to the guard and somehow convinced him to give him the pipe. Much to the crowds excitement Yelawolf threw it back into the crowd, after hitting it!

He closed the set with his song ” Pop The Trunk ” and ended a very pontent 30 minute set before signing autographs for the rest of the day.

I have seen Reel Big Fish many times and it was something about getting hammered drunk before 4 p.m and watching a great outdoor set from one of your favorite bands, FOR FREE. It was a good time that’s for sure. My long time concert friend Chris and I made the trip. After singing ” Trendy ” all day it was a great fit thats what they opened with.

The crowd was into it, they were into it, everyone had a great time in downtown Rolla for St. Pat’s!

Number 4: Kid Rock, The Midland Theatre, 11/26/11, Kansas City, MO.

Kid Rock had not been on a small venue tour in over 10 years and is not like the demand is not there. The summer tour with Sheryl Crow was a huge success. After deciding to do a small 10 show run of smaller venues for local charities in each market. He selected Kansas City as one of the dates.

I snatched up the limit of 2 floor tickets as soon as they went on sale. Kid Rock despite being sick, put on a great show that revials his past club shows. He really pulled out the stops offering funny commentary, Original takes on many career spanning songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFLa1kHw7OM
(Video Credit : http://www.youtube.com/user/cmb7869 ) Check out for more great videos.

A highlight to me was late in the show, while still on the intro to ” Bawitdaba “. During which he took a painfully long pause in the song before telling people this is the part that hurts. He gave his all and gave back to charity. I was proud to support this tour and was well worth the money to see him in a smaller setting.

Number 3: Tori Amos, The Chicago Theatre, 12/10/10, Chicago, IL

Tori Amos is a unsuspecting favorite of mine ever since watching her set at Bonnaroo 10′. Something has always interested me about Piano and Tori is quite the master. This being my first headlining Tori gig, I was blown away. The command she has and how she can take a song and make it something else, live, right in front of you is simply amazing.

Between the 20+ song set, the string quartet and the lights it was one incredible experience, not to mention I love my seat in the beautiful, historic, downtown Chicago Theatre.

I can’t wait to see her again hopefully soon, also the variety she displayed on this tour really shows a depth of material. Great tour, Great show.

After seeing Foxy Shazam a variety of times the past two years you can never be sure what to expect. You can always be sure to expect a show. Whether its telling the crowd Jack Nicholson has died, or challenging the audience to kill him for 20 dollars you know something is going to happen.

Shortly after taking the Warped Stage the singer Eric Nally called for the merch guy to bring all the bands money. After recieving the money he took the 20 plus single dollars tore them up and threw them into the front rows of the crowd. Much to the crowds delight.

After a few songs, Eric called again to the merch guy saying ” Bring me some more money man, So I can pay these people.” After he recieved another bunch of bills, he began tearing them up and eating them.

And the show was great, I love their Cd and look forward to the early 2012 show they have lined up in my hometown.

My friend Chris would always tease me about how awesome Coheed and Cambria’s ambitious ” Neverender ” Tour was. I never thought I would have the chance to experience anything like that. Until Coheed announced it’s spring run of small venues playing their 1st cd ” The Second Stage Turbine Blade ” in its entirety.

They started out with a acoustic set featuring great peformances of many of their hits and various other songs alike.

Followed by SSTB in its entirety, followed by a greatest hits set. No openers or other BS just great performances that Coheed fans have come to expect. After the short setlist on the headlining tour the winter before. It was want was needed to get right back into the band like the first time all over again.

The big sound of SOUNDGARDEN is back. I was a witness to one amazing performance from this “grunge” relic from the 90’s. Singer Chris Cornell delivered like a metal god that he is…or a grunge god. Not only did he match note for note what appears on the records, (Badmotorfinger and Superunknown) he exceeded on some of those notes and took us to new vocal heights. Did it matter that this was the 6th show of the tour, time will only tell?

The band was awesome as well. I have seen drum giants like Joey Jordison and Neil Peart and realized how Matt Cameron using a very economical looking drum set carried a big beat that helped the songs aquire their thunderous pounding. Guitar player Kim Thayil might not be a sexy name like an Eddie Van Halen but he sure knows how to make his guitar give that bite that makes us smile. Overall the stage was kept to a minimum – 2 backdrops and moderate lightning. It was all about the performance of the band rather than some fancy hydraulics machinery. This evening the support act was Coheed & Cambria.

…and now for the amazing story…I was in front row for all of the show and had a blast. I walked away with a Chris Penne drum stick, a Claudio Sanchez guitar pick, a Chris Cornell guitar pick and I got to touch Claudio’s double neck white Gibson SG guitar.

Coheed & Cambria Puyallup Fair 9/29/09
What a show! One of the best day-long concert experiences I’ve ever had. Mos def one of their best concerts that I’ve seen. Went to comic signing earlier in the day at one of the finest comic shops I’ve ever encountered- Comic Evolution in Puyallup and once again met the man with the plan, Mr. Claudio Sanchez. But we’ll get to that in a bit.
The setlist for The Puyallup Fair 2009 performance from Coheed and Cambria:
1. No World For Tomorrow
2. Gravemakers & Gunslingers
3. In Keeping Secrets Silent Earth:3
4. Ten Speed
5. A Favor House Atlantic
6. Al the Killer
7. Under a Milky Way Tonight (cover song originally done by The Church)
8. Devil In Jersey City
9. Blood Red Summer
10. The End Complete/Trooper Medley
11. Welcome Home
Encore
12. The Crowing
13. The Final Cut

This was my 13th time seeing them live. My 7th time seeing them headline a show. I’ve seen them in 9 different venues in 8 different cities in 4 different states over 5 years. Not only are they one of the greatest bands in the world in my book but have the best and most dedicated fans bar none which typically enrich each concert experience in one way or another. This show was no different.
I was in the left (E) section in front of stage right (Trav’s side) in the 7th row. By far the closest I’ve ever seen the Heed from. Made my pics come out much better than usual. Even my cell pics looked pretty damn good. It was ticketed seating for the floor so even though the rows of chairs were ridiculously too close to the rows in front of them, I had a chair that was all mine. Normally shows I attend are general admission and I prefer them that way, too. I usually stand near the soundboard because I just don’t have the desire to go mix it up with the kids in the pit especially if I’m taking pictures. But this show I had a spot in the seventh row. Bitchin’!
Opening acts were Jaguar Love (I missed them completely but it seems they did the opposite of impressing people because way too many people said negative stuff about ‘em) & Brand New. Brand New wasn’t bad. Some pretty cool, textured stuff there that had some nice dynamics. I honestly wasn’t giving them a fair shake and was growing impatient because I had been told by the “Concert Info” booth earlier in the night that Puyallup had a 10pm noise ordinance & the show is over at ten. So with that by 8:30 I was getting really annoyed with Brand New. They started at 8pm and by 8:40 I just wanted them the fuck out of there. They played til 8:50 and by then I was feeling pretty confident that the info booth guy was way off. I drove over 2 hours to get here and would have been terribly disappointed if the headlining act played less than an hour. I had faith as Coheed has never let me down. No worries.

At 9:24… the lights went down and the crowd went crazy… I thought to myself “Allll right…I hope you bitches are buckled up…”

They fired it up with the usual “go to” openers “No World For Tomorrow” & “Gravemakers & Gunslingers”. Time tested, proven, tried and true. The majority of the shows they’ve played for the last 2 years straight have opened with these two cuts from their 4th & most recent album. It’s quite effective and a sure fire way to get… it… ON!
“NWFT” starts with such a great riff that has so much anticipated excitement built into it-accentuateded by a couple of well placed tribal-like drum beats and a big crash that lets you know something fucking huge is about to go down. “Raise your hands high!… young brothers and sis-ters!…”
Everybody’s stoked as they haven’t played anywhere in the Pacific NW in 16 months.

“Gravemakers & Gunslingers” busts in next like a jacked up cowboy kickin’ open the saloon doors with both barrells-a-blazin’ intent on merciless slaughter. The guitars are rippin’ ass & deliver the necessary proverbial beat down right outta the gate. Fuck, YES Coheed is the house! Holla!

“In Keeping Secrets Silents of Silent Earth” is next. The title track to the 2nd record & one of my absolute favorites still! It opens so hauntingly calm yet has that anxious anticipation because… this is the war anthem… and alllll hell is about to break loose. “Man your own jack hammers!!… Man your battle stay-yay-ayay-shuns… We’ll have you dead pretty soon!!!…”

“Ten Speed” is a punchy joint from their 3rd album “Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV” and was followed by “Favor House”. I was delighted & kind of surprised/yet not so surprised to hear this one. “A Favor House Atlantic” was the first song I ever heard on the radio from these guys back in 2003 & it caught my attention. It was their 1st single that got any kind of national radio airplay and it wasn’t much at that. It’s a great song with a unique kind of power punch to it, yet has a very catchy and pop chorus that always has everybody singing along. This is one of their most popluar “hits” if you will, but hasn’t been played much this year. They’ve kept the setlists stocked with their heavier fare as they’ve spent most of the year playing 50 minute sets on tour opening for Slipknot and then with Heaven & Hell. This song wouldn’t have gone over very well in front of some of the Slipknot fans. But tonight Coheed is the reason we’re all here & we loved it. Favor House’s chorus is bouncy and fun and has a real “feel-good” feel to it. I notice it always makes us “children of the fence” smile… even the emo kids with the funny haircuts smile. Check it out next time you see them play this. Look around the room when it gets toward the end of the song… everybody is smiling. Let’s try this at home… click here and see if it makes you smile:

Next up is the heavy duty “Al the Killer” from IKSSE:3. Until the Neverender shows this song had not been played in several years. Since it was freshly revived for Neverender and it’s pretty metal, it made the setlist every night on both the Slipknot tour and the Heaven & Hell tour.

Then they brought it down a notch and they played the cover tune, “Under the Milky Way Tonight”. It was weird because I knew the song & seemed to know almost all of the words but couldn’t peg who originally sang it. It was driving me freakin’ crazy. After the show I found out it was The Church. I remember when this song was a minor hit back in the late 80’s and it didn’t anything for me back then… and not much has changed. They did a fine job playing it & while it was most certainly amusing to see Coheed play it… once. I hope they never do it again. I would much rather them go back to doing “So Lonely” by the Police or perhaps they could have played another amazing original song like EVERYTHING EVIL! lol.
Here’s a clip someone else shot of “Under A Milky Way Tonight”. It’s worth checking it out. Enjoy it here so they don’t have to play it every night on tour in the future:

Anyway… onward with another classic crowd fave “Devil Jersey City”. It’s the only song they’d play tonight from the first album “Second Stage Turbine Blade” and the crowd is pleased and sings along gleefully. “Don’t Let them scare yooooouuu…”
This was followed by another catchy pop single from IKSSE:3- “Blood Red Summer”. After that was another heavy one that got played every night this year: “The End Complete/ Trooper Medley”. As a teen & into my twenties I LOVED Iron Maiden. They were my fave. One of the initial reasons I fell in love with Coheed and Cambria is I could tell just by listening to them that they loved Maiden, too! Coheed doing Maiden is just awesome wrapped in awesome, and then topped with a nice melted layer of awesome sauce.
After that it was time to take it to the next level with their quintessential rock juggernaut “Welcome Home”. I consider this their best song. Everything Evil might be considered my favorite but “Welcome Home” is in my opinion their best song indeed. Tonight they delivered it with absolute authority… pounding it like the fist of an angry god. Justice is served. “Hang onto glory at my right hand…”. The crowd knows this one well, too. Lately this song is being used in the trailer for the animated movie “9” as well as it’s appearances in the Rock Band video game. A worthy tune in any book. Travis Stever shredded this song playing a beautiful gold-top Les Paul with the Bigsby rig on it. I think he played this same guitar all night. Claudio, too who is stunningly shred-tastic added a bit of improv to his face-melting solo parts as he jumped around enthusiastically playing one of his many Gibson Explorers. They looked like they were having a ball. We sure were. They ended the song and raised their hands up saying thank you and good night and walked off of the stage! We cheered emphatically as we knew it wasn’t over. The lights hadn’t come up so we kept on yelling. –Here’s a video of the solo… sorry it’s blurry. I zoomed in and hit record before the camera had a chance to focus. But it sounds okay.

After several minutes our pals from Nyack, New York returned to the stage with their hands waving to much applause for an encore.
They fired right in to The Crowing” from the IKSSE:3 album. Definitely one of their finest 6 minute epics. The crowd is pleased to hear this one as am I. This was played many times during the Slipknot tour earlier this year but not the night I saw them in Dallas. They had to skip that song from what I guessed was a time issue. Too bad because it would have went over well then. At least tonight I get to hear it as it is one of (sing it) “you…you know, you were…my fav-orites”. They do a fine job indeed with bassist Mic Todd and drummer Chris Pennie just getting brutal on their respective parts. Damn I love this band… are they are in superb form tonight! Without hesitation as the last notes of “The Crowing” ring out in the comfortable September evening air… the drum beats in with the–” brack- blap-ba-blap boom!” To begin the expected set-ending “The Final Cut” as the guitars cry & wail away emoting all of the angst, fear, torment, loss, & unreqited love of that the “story” has subject us to as this tale has unfolded and twisted continuously throughout the 4 albums of theirs. They’ve been closing with this one since the summer of 2005 at just about every headlining show and even some of the shorter shows, too. This is where you see some spontaneity from these guys letting them jam and play around a bit. Great voicebox work from Travis. Claudio is really getting the hang of that Theramin. He was doing notes I’d not seen him do before and doing a damn good job of being in key with the melodies that Travis was putting out there. Chris Pennie has some really impressive, yet subtle flair tossed in but it’s more subtle, nuance stuff with soft rolls on the snare and hat. Great stuff if you pay attention but most folks aren’t aware of the complexity of the stuff he’s back there doing.

Chuck Messinger & the good folks at Comic Evolution were KILLER! Super nice people! Chuck was the guy wearing the black hockey jersey with the keywork on it that I gave him as a gift for hooking me up. What comes around goes around and sometimes the goings are really good. He rocked that thing much better than I ever could have. On him it looked like a rockin’ hockey jersey… on me it looked like I was wearing a monk’s robe. LOL. Thanks, Chuck! I met many really nice people at this show. Coheed fans are so awesome!!
-Rich Testa
Aka Rockstizzle
Portland, OR

In the fall of 2008, Coheed and Cambria treated fans in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and London to Neverender. Four nights, four albums played in their entirety. For the spring of 2011, the upstate New York band plans to hit the road in celebration of 10 year anniversary of their massive debut record The Second Stage Turbine Blade. The “Evening With” tour will feature the group performing Turbine Blade from front to back, a 30-40 minute acoustic set and fan favorites from the groups back catalog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hJBpDKlOp8&feature=related

Initial dates for the tour are below. As always, check with the bands official site for the latest information.

For those who are not a member of my immediate family, allow me to give you a brief history on the family tradition that is Barney the purple dinosaur. I was in my early teens at the height of Barney-mania. As a gag gift, my parents threw a Barney Doll (marching band outfit, filled with bubble mix) into the stockings of my brother and I. My brother and I took great offense to “the purple one” in our Christmas loot, and our anger brought many laughs from the older generation. The next year on Christmas Day, my brother and I each had a very large box. We were instructed to open them last, and after getting through tons and tons of packing peanuts we each discovered that my parents had given us the same Barney once again. I made sure to grab both Barney’s and the following year we got revenge upon my parents. The following year, my brother and I got revenge upon our Aunts as they received packages with the dreaded Dinosaur.

The following year, Barney went to the next level. Actually, he went to Portland, Las Vegas and Chicago and was passed along with a hilarious photo album. Since that time, Barney dolls have gone onto such locations as Yosemite, Japan, Bosnia, London and Tom Jones house. While one of the two dolls has “gone missing” Phishing Barney came into play in 1998. Barney had returned to Portland and witnessed a Phish concert so grand that the band released it on compact disc. As part of the gift, a tiny Barney with full fishing attire was presented with the photo album. In 2009, Phishing Barney gave his family live updates from Festival 8 with Phish. Having caught the bug, below you will find what Barney did in 2010 as an assistant to Concert Confessions founder & spiritual guru Reverend Justito. Thank you for checking this article out and sharing in my families holiday tradition. I hope it brings you as much joy as it brings the seven of us on Christmas Day.

The goal was simple. Take a bunch of Barney photos with celebs here in Los Angeles. Then it occurred to me that I don’t want to be that guy. When you see Marsha Cross eating lunch with her family, the last thing the Desperate Housewife needs is me bugging her for a photo with Barney. So after a conversation with the fine folks in Whitechapel, the plan changed from Barney with celebs to Barney rocking out with some of the best live acts of 2011.

The first artist Barney met was Joseph Arthur. I apologize to Mr. Arthur that the photo came out so poorly.

In June, Barney cruised up the coast to Ventura. There he spent the day at the Vans Warped Tour. It was on this day that Whitechapel just suggested he take a photo with them on stage.

The highlight of the day was Barney meeting the lead singer of Angry Samoans – Metal Mike. A fan for 15+ years, it was a dream come true.

A few weeks later, Barney hit up the Cool Tour. While it may have had a terrible name, the package tour had some great bands. That day, Barney rocked hard with…

Cancer Bats

The Acacia Strain

Between the Buried and Me

As I Lay Dying

Barney tried real hard to get a photo pass for Phish. He was denied, but that didn’t stop him and his pal Cookie Monster from rocking out for three days at the Greek with his favorite band.

A few weeks later, Barney was handed a photo pass for another favorite act – Coheed and Cambria. Sadly at the Wiltern, the photo pit is 25 feet from the stage. So ummmmm maybe next time Claudio.

In October, Barney hit Amoeba to check out an in store with Alain Johannes. Not only did he get to watch the man perform songs from his debut album, but he got to meet him as well.

As an added bonus, Barney ran into his old friend – comedian Steve Agee.

Shortly after Halloween, Barney snuck into the Key Club where he watched Helmet close out their lengthy North American tour. Barney and Helmet main man Page Hamilton were able to discuss how disgusted they were with the 49ers after the show.

Barney’s magical tour of 2010 ended on a high note. Sold out in under an hour; Phishing Barney snuck on stage with Mike Gordon of Phish at the intimate Troubadour.

All in all, 2010 was a great year for Barney. Who knows what 2011 has in store?!?!?!

Nothing says a party like a Thursday night in Korea Town. While many gathered to drink Soju and sing Karaoke, I entered the doors of the historic Wiltern Theatre for a night of progressive rock and roll. With Porcupine Tree and Coheed and Cambria joining forces for a two week tour across the states, what better place to kick off a summer tour than frigid Southern California?

Sadly, I missed The Deer Hunter (thanks traffic), but made it inside the venue in time for England’s premiere prog-rock band Porcupine Tree. To be fair, before last night, I knew Porcupine Tree. I went in with an open mind, and for the first 45 minutes I tried to convince myself that what I was hearing was enjoyable. Parts were really solid, but a lot of it was a struggle. I get that they are very talented musicians, but when it came down to it, the music went nowhere. I reminded myself many times that if I was familiar with the music, this would be epic. Yet by the 46 minute mark, I was bored to death. 24 minutes later, it was finally over and I could not have been more relieved. So is Porcupine Tree lame? With my last three reviews being about Phish shows, you know I appreciate long complex songs. The Between The Buried and Me set I caught a few weeks back throws out the argument that you need to know the material to appreciate the show.

While waiting for Coheed and Cambria to start, I was asked by a fellow fan what I thought of Porcupine Tree’s set. I told her everything you just read in the last paragraph. She smiled and informed me that they were here favorite band and this was show #17. After making fun of Phish, she then told me that of the 17 shows she had seen, this was without a doubt the worst one. So I am going to keep an open mind to Porcupine Tree. I don’t know if I will seek them out, but if we one day connect in the future great. If not, thanks for your time, you at least have my respect as musicians.

(You would see a video of Porcupine Tree here, but the cowards lead singer of the band had it removed. While I understand that this video is not mine, I am not sure how this hurts Porcupine Tree or WMG. I paid to enter the show. There are no plans that I am aware of to release this show via commercial outlet. All I have done is given their band free publicity and allowed fans worldwide to share in a moment that they have missed out on. Shame on you PT, you are cowards, you are dinosaurs and perhaps if you were more fan friendly the show would have been able to fill the Palladium versus being moved to the Wiltern.)

I somehow missed out on the information that this tour was a co-headline. I assumed as with past Coheed and Cambria shows, that they were the main attraction and all others were simply there to warm the stage for the upstate New York prog-metal-jam-polka-sci-fi-rock Gods. You all know what happens when one assumes – so yes while we only got 75 minutes of Coheed and Cambria, those 75 minutes was nothing short of amazing.

The foursome kicked off the set with In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3. Underage boys quickly formed a pit in the venues front section of floor, sending bodies both willing and otherwise flying as the band cranked out the ten plus minute battle cry. After blasting through Ten Speed (of God’s Love and Burial) with great ease, the group busted out the self-fulfilling prophecy Here We Are Juggernaut. From the recently released record Year of the Black Rainbow, fans went nuts for the raucous number that rock radio fans foolishly failed to grasp onto.

The band did a great job of performing a good range of songs from their catalogue. Modern day classics like Everything Evil and The Willing Well I: Fuel For The Feeding End mixed well with new material such as Pearl of the Stars and When Skeleton’s Live. I know I got goosebumps from the sweet intro jam into Delerium Trigger, but don’t think it mattered what the band played, they audience was thirsty for anything Coheed. Fans even went wild for front man Claudio Sanchez’s tale of throwing an early demo tape at Deftones (and of course totally missing the stage).

Where Porcupine Tree did not use their time for an encore, Coheed and Camrbia did. The band performed three songs, which was lead off by Sanchez performing Wake Up alone upon the stage. I would have preferred another song then World of Lines, but hey at least the band closed the short but sweet set firing on all cylinders with Welcome Home. The highlight of the closing number was Sanchez allowing those in the front row strum his guitar and complete the songs final solo. I know post show chants for bands never work, but on this particular night I gave it a try. 75 minutes of Coheed and Cambria simply doesn’t satisfy. Fingers crossed I don’t have to wait long for the next time.

AV Club has an on-going web series where twenty-five bands are covering twenty-five songs found on a list that someone somewhere over there made up. The latest instalment of this series features Travis and Claudio from Coheed and Cambria taking a shot at “A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours” by The Smiths. As the band mentions in the video, the song is dedicated to their manager.

I’ll admit that I felt a little bit better once Claudio mentioned they were not familiar with the number. In fact, I am fine saying that my very first listen of the original is going on now as I type this. But enough about Johnny and Morrissey, back to Coheed. What makes this cover stand out is the unfamiliarity by the band. The struggle to get through the number creates a certain dynamic in the music that causes your chest to tingle and hair on your arms to raise. The highlight hands down is the vulerability found within the vocals. Don’t believe me, check it out for yourself.

Earlier this year, one of my favorite bands broke my heart. I understand that Coachella is very special, but how dare Coheed and Cambria schedule their spring tour to run through Southern California as I was on vacation in Hawaii?

Thankfully, the guys will make it up to me by kicking off their US Summer Tour at the Palladium in Hollywood, CA on August 12th. Dates and opening acts as follows:

While Reverend Justito rocked out at the KROQ Weenie Roast this past weekend – one of the first CC contributors – BeeZnutZ was at an equally impressive rock radio festival in St. Louis. With performances from the likes of Papa Roach, Seether & Coheed and Cambria – this was quite the event. Check out these great videos shot by BeeZutZ this past weekend. If this is not enough – feel free to check out our coverage of last year’s event.

It is no accident that i love taking pictures. in fact i graduated with a Graphics Arts Degree and worked in the advertising field for a time. though i make my living as a state employee my love for picture taking has never waivered. To “compose” a concert photograph and be given a few seconds to do it, is a challenge that i want in order to get that ultimate shot that is so rewarding. Now! i am not a professional photographer (i wish). i just have some knowledge and do have ideas as to what i want to capture. thank god for these digital cameras for they are so tiny but powerfull and that most venues and artists gave up the fight to banned them from concerts. Here are some of my faves.

(Note, I got no Coheed photos as I mainly took video during their set. As soon as we have net access in our new home, I will add the videos).

Sometimes, the stars and planets align and things work out, despite the fact you didn’t think it actually would.I was disappointed knowing I would not be able to make it to the beautiful Greek Theatre here in Los Angeles to see Coheed and Cambria.They are after all one of my favorite bands, and the thought of them making their first appearance at one of my favorite venues without me was heartbreaking.But $54 pre-service fee is a lot of cash for an opening set, especially when I have seen the band perform six times over the last nine months.Bummed over missing the show, imagine my shock when I got an invite from one of the last people on the planet I would have expected to go with.One of my softball teammates is obsessed with Ronnie James Dio.Knowing I love live music, he hesitated asking me if I was interested, in fear that I would mock him for his love of the pint sized metal juggernaut.I jumped on the chance, and faster than you can say dragon with an afro, I had a ticket for the double bill of Coheed and Cambria/Heaven & Hell.

After getting a front row parking spot (the one downfall of the Greek is its stacked parking, which can leave you in the lot waiting to leave for hours after the final notes have rung out across the venue), I made my way up the hill and past the gates.I dropped some Georges on a cup and the leadoff hitter and I made it to our seats.Within minutes of our arrival, my heroes Coheed and Cambria took the stage.Opening with a raucous “No World for Tomorrow” the band was out the gate like a warning shot during a prison riot.Not missing a beat, the band dove right into another song from their most recent record – “Gravemakers & Gunslingers”.With front man Claudio Sanchez moving across the stage with sudden spastic movements, I quickly realized that this would be a much different opening experience then the Slipknot fiasco back in March.

“In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3” is one of my favorites, and as always it did not disappoint.With its epic build up and break downs, the band was winning over the crowd one mind bending solo at a time.After a solid version of “Ten Speed (In God’s Love & Burial)” the upstate NY band launched into another new one “The End Complete”.I was caught off guard as the band used this song to segue into the Iron Maiden (and often covered) classic “The Trooper”.This was the very moment that Claudio and company won over the entire crowd.Mullets and devil horns quickly rose from their seats to headbang in approval.

Perhaps the best thing to result from Neverender (where the band performed all four of their albums over four nights in four cities) is the rebirth of “Al the Killer”.I have gone from feeling I would never see it performed live, to now seeing it three times.This was a good way to follow up the Maiden cover, as folks had a chance to go crazy with the thick palm muted riffs.I wonder how many managed to catch that Sanchez was screaming Die White Girls?The band wrapped up the set with two songs from the IV album.“Welcome Home” kept the audience hypnotized, with bassist Michael Todd deep in the pocket while Sanchez went crazy.The band closed with perhaps the shortest version of “The Final Cut” I have ever heard.While Sanchez and guitarist Travis Stever exchanged solos, I had to stand back and smile.With a few breaks here and there, Coheed have now been on the road for three years, and it truly shows.The band sounded tighter than ever and blew the roof off the stage.Be it four nights or one hour, there is a reason I never miss this band when they hit Los Angeles.

After a quick set change, it was time for Heaven & Hell.I won’t lie, I respect Dio, but for me Sabbath has always been about Ozzy.I was thankful for a chance to see the little legend, and I am always down to hear Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler tear it up.With a backdrop of goblins and a large fence like structure, the four piece (also featuring drummer Vinny Appice) got things off on the right foot by opening with one of their bigger hits “The Mob Rules”.Over the next 90 minutes, the band managed to successfully mix in new numbers like “Bible Black” and “Follow the Tears” with classics like “I” and “Children of the Sea”.Iommi was on all night, ripping up massive solos in songs like “Die Young” and “Time Machine”.It seemed at times that the band just was not clicking 100%.Perhaps age or jet lag, or just one of those nights, but something seemed to just not be right.It was not bad by any stretch of the imagination, just not there.Personally, the highlight of the set for me was the closing number, the name of the band “Heaven and Hell”.Dio didn’t have to encourage the crowd to join in a chant of whoas but he did anyways.Clocking in at approximately 15-20 minutes, this was by far the highlight of the night, especially the fierce instrumental jam about 8 minutes in.

As the band came back for a Neon Knight’s encore, I realized that the pairing of these two bands was really genius.The Future Meets The Past.While Tenacious D may joke that it’s time for Dio to hang it up, the fact I finally got to see the legend with my new school heroes was quite a thrill.Likewise, with the earlier mentioned stacked parking, the decent amount of Coheed fans who made it in were treated to a history lesson in Dungeon’s and Dragon rock.Great pair indeed, if you are lucky enough to have this tour hit your town, check it out.

Saturday January 24th was a day I had been anticipating for a long time. You see thanks for my Older role model up the street i got turned onto slipknot at a VERY young age. We are talking in 98 right before ozzfest and all that shit. I was going to see these guys at POP’S. First slipknot show i saw them, they were a fuckin opening band. Here was the line up. It went Dope, Slipknot, Coal Chamber, and Soufly. I remember going to that show and not knowing much about this band called slipknot. Who had the unheard of TWO official sites Slipknot1.com and Slipknot2.com. Everything about them was just intense.

I remember like it was yesterday being at Pop’s where I have seen many a metal show and walking upstairs being greeted by James from slipknot who someone had pointed out to us. I remember Joey being so cool and all for the fans. I remember my Mom meeting slipknot outside a random show there a few years later when they came back to headline. I remember talking to Corey about Pizza Hut and George Carlin. Corey was wearing a pizza hut visor which really off set the image I had going for him. He told me stories about working the old shitty pizza hut paying dues. They were all really cool people in person.

Then Ozzfest 99 came. It was almost overnight. Slipknot became and still is HUGE. It is awesome to see these guys playing arenas now. They are one of a hand full of bands I was blessed enough to see, hear and meet before the masses. I will always remember those shows and there raw energy. I was hooked from a young age.

Then I get the call that chris had scored pre-sale to KC and we were going to see Coheed(his fav band) open for Slipknot(my fav band) I was ready to see them again.

This brings me to Jan 24th 08. I decided not to play games. I was going to wait for chris to call me, leave my house and meet him by the highway. The first call i get is at 11:30 and its all bad. The sprint center sent a email out saying basically leave your cameras at home. I was needless to say disappointed. I was really looking foward to shooting at that show. I don’t know who’s rules it was. Bullshit though.

Whatever…. I had packed plenty of herbal remedy refreshments! I also bought a half pint of grey goose, and the guy at the liquor store gave me one of those little ass bottles free! Score. I drink maybe 5-10 times a year. I am a event drinker. I don’t like sitting around being drunk id much rather be at a wild concert in a town ill never come back to for a while.

Doing the trip we almost got popped going down the highway which wouldn’t of been a fun experience. Everything was going great . After we got 90 miles out from kc from my post in the back seat. I started mixing up drinks, time to get CRUNK!!!!! That went great for 20 miles until the car started to over heat. We were 3/4’s of the way there. FUUUUUUUUUCK! So i hopped out and walked around this gas station for a half hour. Luckily it was a replica super walmart downsized to walgreens size and packed around a million gas pumps. That shit had a subway, A pizza hut and a Tire Center everything.

Chris brought his friend Jason on this trip, He was a good road trip companion. Pretty cool guy. He and Chris ate subway while i chilled and ate pretzels. I had smashed two cheeseburgers and a large fry from Culvers before i left. I didn’t want to be the kid that ate too much in the pit. I wanted to be the kid that drank too much!

We finally let the car cool off, topped off the antifreeze and said fuck it. Hopped back on the highway. We hit KC about 5:20 and found a parking spot 3 floors deep in KC’s underground garage next to the venue. We blasted off between the smoker session and the drinks pumping in my veins i was charged. I made us wait till doors open to walk up there. It was too cold to fuck around.

It was decided that we were going to try to sneak our cameras in. Disregarding that email from earlier and all the signs posted saying “no cameras”. I kept trying to educate Jason of our ways. He didn’t think we could get them in. I knew we could, but like i told him “thats the easy part”. When we approached the door, we realized our error. They were searching too vigorously to sneak anything buy them. They had a big walk through metal detector and wands.

Then we foolishly decided to abandon ship. We strolled back to the car and put the cameras up. I took that time to also make myself another drink with the little bottle i got for free. I poured the whole thing into a drink and headed for the door again. I am slamming this drink before i get to the security people, then i pull out a bottle of water and slam that shit too right in front of them.

We go inside and notice a very exploitable flaw in the security. They are not watching the smoking area at all. All they are doing is checking your tickets as you reenter. I was pretty smashed at this point and kept telling my friends I was going to hop the fence and go get those cameras. Luckily they talked me out of it. We went to the floor and watched Trivium. They were okay, and thats being nice because they were just okay and i was Drrrrrrunk. Nothing exciting happened during there set. I kept watching security during this set. They had that place locked down on the inside.

I went in between sets to see if i could sneak the cameras in before Coheed. This time they had security posted outside everywhere. Our time had came and went, there would be no bobby or chris footage.

I have two Coheed cd’s they both are acoustic cd’s. I like them but didn’t know what to expect. They came out and played “welcome home” to open the set. Honestly that was the only song i knew the whole set, and standing there during Coheed the alcohol caught up with me. I was kind of in a musical daze, it was one of those sets that just flew by. Claudio was definitely rocking the full fro’ they had the slit throat backdrop going too.

The slipknot fans put up with the set, but it was obvious it was not a lot of peoples cup of tea. Fuck those people, it is a concert. If all music was the same as the band you came to see it would all be boring and wouldn’t be MUSIC. My advice is if you hate a band that much, go smoke a joint, go get a beer, smoke a cigarette or walk around aimlessly. It makes no sense to sit around and bitch about it like some of these people did.

Honestly the Coheed set flew by, also i was expecting more. My buddy had hyped them up quite a bit. However he did say that there set that night wasn’t that tight and seemed a little off. Second day of the tour that seems understandable. Don’t get me wrong though they rocked. It just was a average set and flew by because i was blasted!

The intermission for slipknot was long, drawn out and seemed to take forever! It might have been because this radio DJ came out and hyped the crowd up. He said “slipknot will be out here in a few minutes” about 30 to 40 minutes before they actually took the stage. I passed the time by Inching closer and closer to the stage. During Coheed’s set i was 2 people from the barricade. By the time the infamous nine masked maggots hit the stage i was one person off the barricade. My buzz had leveled off, i was pumped.

I am Horrible at song names. I couldn’t name five slipknot songs honestly. I don’t study the track listings, I don’t have a read out on my cd player. When slipknot hit, they ripped the place apart. From the floor up, it was a mad house. What impressed me the most was how much old material they played. Only a few songs into the set they played my favorite slipknot song which i believe is number 3 off there self titled album. I got the fuck up during that song and bounced my ass off.

They really put a lot into this show, one nice addition i saw was a Flat Screen Tv mounted to Clown’s Percussion kit. He had a camera set up and was playing that footage on the TV. During the mayhem that ensued the camera was hit out of focus for at least 20 minutes until he fixed it. Sid looked healthy again from his foot injuries and was even doing pull ups while clowns kit was suspended 6 feet in the air.

Mick and James seemed to really be enjoying this tour, slamming out the hard riffs that make up slipknots style. Paul was jamming away on the bass. Corey was energetic as ever and really seemed to be into this set. He told the crowd at one point “if this next song doesn’t make you wanna rip your head off, i will piss in your mouth”. It is nice to have a band care so much about your experience at there show. Slipknot Cares.

At one point a bra flew up on stage from the girl behind me, James put it on his head and rocked out for a minute. I have to say that was a little wierd. Funny though, then it started a chain reaction of girls flashing the band towards the end of set. The best part though was the dude in front of me was with his girl, and she screamed like someone was about to stab her. “OMG DONT TURN AROUND” she said. Naturally i turned around. I thought it was funny. What was the big deal after watching nine masked men murder everything on stage for an hour.

They played a fierce 1 hour set and took a 10 minute break, then came out and rocked out for another half an hour. Then took another break.

Then i heard the opening chord’s to my favorite slipknot song. It all started back in gym class in high school, back in the slipknot ozzfest daze. My friend Aj would stomp, kick and slap the beat to surfacing while we screamed the chorus at the scared kids in our class. FUCK IT ALL, FUCK THIS WORLD, FUCK EVERYTHING THAT YOU STAND FOR. Surfacing is my jam. Both middle fingers in the air I screamed the chorus loud enough to make everyone in my gym class proud. I remember at the ozzfest when Corey would announce this is your new Fuckin NATIONAL ANTHEM!!!!!!

Brought me back. It used to be that meant the end of the show. They had one more for us though SPIT IT OUT was a great song to end with. I was impressed slipknot had outdone themselves yet again with another great show. Everyone seemed quite happy with the show. As we were climbing the stairs to exit the arena i realized i had left a sweatshirt in the pit. Oh well another causality of war, stepping out into the frigid missouri Air I wasn’t cold at all. It was that good of a show.

I encourage everyone to go see this tour if possible, it will be well worth your money to do so.